Thursday, February 6, 2014

Apartheid?

Once upon a time few people in Israel owned cars and
traffic in Jerusalem flowed smoothly. As the country became more affluent the
streets became more and more crowded. Traffic jams in the Holy City became the
norm so the city government decided something needed to be done. That something
was to build a light rail train system to ease the congestion.

Two and a half years ago that system finally began. What
was at first a strange phenomenon has become a routine method of
transportation. The train integrates with the bus lines and its route begins in
a northwest suburb of Jerusalem and continues through Beit Hanina and Shuafat,
passes by the Old City and heads to downtown Jerusalem, goes to the main bus station and then turns south
as far as Mt. Herzl. The driver sits in his own compartment separate from the
travelers. Payment is done with a travel card or ticket which is validated by
special machines in each car of the train. Inspectors regularly board the train
to make sure no one has gone for a free ride.
Whether the system has helped the congestion is debatable. There are
those who love the train and those who hate it. I still have not yet made up my
mind.

There is nothing to debate about the regularity of
the light rail. Signs at every station post how long it is until the next train
is arriving. Except for once when there was a breakdown I have never had to
wait more than eight minutes. The first time I rode the train through Beit
Hanina and Shuafat I had a ride down memory lane. It had been twenty years,
since the beginning of the Oslo Accords and those Arab suburbs because off-limits
for Jews, that I had seen the neighborhoods. It was fascinating to look for
familiar landmarks.

If I have a choice, though, I still prefer to board
a bus. I do not like talking to answering machines or making appointments by
computer so I really appreciate that there is an approachable, human driver on
the buses. Although that driver might be rude and gruff, often he is polite,
helpful, and a valuable source of information on directions. For years there
has been an unwritten rule on the buses that the young and healthy need to give
over their seats for the elderly, infirm, or pregnant women who are standing. Sometimes, if no one gets up, the bus driver
interferes.

I have not seen that happen on the light rail. In
fact, I recently boarded the train downtown in the middle of the day and was
barely able to find a place to stand. Fortunately, many passengers got off at
the next stop and one of the places on a double seat became available.
Unfortunately for me, an Arab teenager beat me to it. There was nothing for me
to say. All is fair in love, war, and finding a seat on public transportation.
The fact that the young man was an Arab had nothing to do with this part of the
story. I’m sorry to say that many Jewish teenagers would have acted just as he
did. What followed though happened because he was an Arab.

One stop later the woman sitting next to him left
the train and an elderly man wanted to take her place. The teenager refused to
allow him access. When prodded by a couple of other passengers he moved
slightly in order to occupy both seats. There were murmurs of indignation and
then the young man turned gallant. He rose as two Arab women boarded the train
and slid out of the two seats just in time for them to sit down. The old man
continued to stand while an Arab woman, almost a fourth of his age, sat
comfortably. There were more murmurs of indignation but no one said anything.

It took the city years to complete the light rail
system. It is a system that integrated both Arab and Jewish neighborhoods.
Sometimes there have been rocks thrown at the train as it travels through Arab areas.
Sometimes there have been nationalistic scuffles between passengers. Most of
the time, however, the passengers travel to their destinations without
incidents. Anyone who thinks there is apartheid in Israel should try taking a
ride on the light rail train system.

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Aim of Blog

Emunah, faith in God, does not mean believing only good things will happen; it means believing that whatever God does is for the best. I wrote these words at a time when drive-by shootings and suicide bombers had become almost weekly, if not daily, tragedies. Now, more than ten years later, the words are no less true. Whatever HaShem does is for the best. It is my hope to post articles, advice, and homey stories everyweekwhich will reinforce this fact. And now, a special thanks to:

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About Me

Born in Wichita, Kansas, I became a Baalat Teshuva, newly religious, in Phoenix, Arizona while attending ASU. After twelve years of marriage my husband and I made Aliyah with five children and settled in Shilo in the heart of Israel. Two more children joined the family as have daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, Baruch HaShem. My favorite past times are learning, sewing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, enjoying my family and friends, and, of course, writing. My first novel, Sondra’s Search, was published in 2007 and I am working on the sequel.